Page 94 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 94
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
Their troubles were not over, however. A few miles further on, at 3 pm, they ran aground on a
sandbank and, at that moment, another band of brigands appeared on the bank and began to shoot at
them! With bullets whistling overhead and hitting the water around them, they hurriedly formed a
barricade of boxes and crouched behind them and the two shelters while the crew struggled
desperately to get the raft clear of the sandbank. After twenty minutes they succeeded, but all through
the night strong shots were being fired in their direction.
By this time GFA was beginning to feel he should try to contact young General Ma to ask for safe
conduct through the Government lines. With this in mind, when they were stopped yet again next
morning by a lone sentry on the bank, he boldly asked where the commanders headquarters were.
“By a most happy coincidence I found that he had arrived at midnight
at a farmhouse which was just becoming visible to us on the horizon.”
One of the bandit escorts agreed to go with him there but unfortunately there were several old canals
between them and the farmhouse.
“We swam the first one, and climbed out on the opposite bank to be
welcomed by a volley of shots. Running at top speed we got across a
level bit of ground to the next canal, flung ourselves into the water,
crawled up the far bank and dashed on with the young Generals
outposts all aroung us shouting and firing. By dodging from side to
side we escaped the bullets and at last, muddy, sopping wet and out
of breath, we stumbled into the first shack we came to. A soldier
wrapped in a wadded quilt was lying on the crude brick shelf which
serves as a bed in Mongolian farm houses. Sleepily he turned
towards us, scanned my streaming face, noted the mud caking my
hands and knees and then, still staring gravely at me, he said,
Hello, Headmaster Andrew! It was one of GFA’s former pupils
from the school in Lanzhou, and he also knew the second man in the
shack.
It was not long before the young General was roused, and in that
farmhouse I had one of the most interesting experiences of my whole
life. I dined with him and, for four hours we talked about a variety of
subjects. He was only 19, courteous and kindly, grave and careful of
his personal appearance, almost to the point of effeminacy. He was
head of a ragged but loyal army of 40,000 men...”
Cold winds of the Alashan Desert whistled through the chinks in the wall as GFA broke to the young
General the news that his father had been taken out and shot in Lanzhou.
Meanwhile, on the raft, Mrs. Rist was wondering what had happened to him and if she would ever see
him again, but in the late afternoon he returned in triumph, mounted on the Generals own mule and
escorted by the very guards who had been firing at them. Two of the Generals men were deputed to
see them safely on their way to the railhead at Baotou which they reached on 20 July. When at last
they got to Tianjin, GFA made his way to the Chartered Bank and asked to be taken into the
Managers office. He then removed his coat, shirt and belt and out shot 60ozs of gold on to the desk!
94
Amy Moore
Their troubles were not over, however. A few miles further on, at 3 pm, they ran aground on a
sandbank and, at that moment, another band of brigands appeared on the bank and began to shoot at
them! With bullets whistling overhead and hitting the water around them, they hurriedly formed a
barricade of boxes and crouched behind them and the two shelters while the crew struggled
desperately to get the raft clear of the sandbank. After twenty minutes they succeeded, but all through
the night strong shots were being fired in their direction.
By this time GFA was beginning to feel he should try to contact young General Ma to ask for safe
conduct through the Government lines. With this in mind, when they were stopped yet again next
morning by a lone sentry on the bank, he boldly asked where the commanders headquarters were.
“By a most happy coincidence I found that he had arrived at midnight
at a farmhouse which was just becoming visible to us on the horizon.”
One of the bandit escorts agreed to go with him there but unfortunately there were several old canals
between them and the farmhouse.
“We swam the first one, and climbed out on the opposite bank to be
welcomed by a volley of shots. Running at top speed we got across a
level bit of ground to the next canal, flung ourselves into the water,
crawled up the far bank and dashed on with the young Generals
outposts all aroung us shouting and firing. By dodging from side to
side we escaped the bullets and at last, muddy, sopping wet and out
of breath, we stumbled into the first shack we came to. A soldier
wrapped in a wadded quilt was lying on the crude brick shelf which
serves as a bed in Mongolian farm houses. Sleepily he turned
towards us, scanned my streaming face, noted the mud caking my
hands and knees and then, still staring gravely at me, he said,
Hello, Headmaster Andrew! It was one of GFA’s former pupils
from the school in Lanzhou, and he also knew the second man in the
shack.
It was not long before the young General was roused, and in that
farmhouse I had one of the most interesting experiences of my whole
life. I dined with him and, for four hours we talked about a variety of
subjects. He was only 19, courteous and kindly, grave and careful of
his personal appearance, almost to the point of effeminacy. He was
head of a ragged but loyal army of 40,000 men...”
Cold winds of the Alashan Desert whistled through the chinks in the wall as GFA broke to the young
General the news that his father had been taken out and shot in Lanzhou.
Meanwhile, on the raft, Mrs. Rist was wondering what had happened to him and if she would ever see
him again, but in the late afternoon he returned in triumph, mounted on the Generals own mule and
escorted by the very guards who had been firing at them. Two of the Generals men were deputed to
see them safely on their way to the railhead at Baotou which they reached on 20 July. When at last
they got to Tianjin, GFA made his way to the Chartered Bank and asked to be taken into the
Managers office. He then removed his coat, shirt and belt and out shot 60ozs of gold on to the desk!
94
